Great outdoors: Ohio primed for big year in taking deer

Nov. 29, 2013

Written by

Dick Martin

CentralOhio.com

Ohio’s 2013 deer gun season will begin Monday and if the weather is suitable, it will be a good one.

According to Mike Tonkovich, Division of Wildlife Deer Program Administrator, the deer population is similar to last year and the harvest is likely to be similar, too (86,963 last gun season). Most estimate there will be about 400,000 hunters seeking winter meat in their favorite county.

In fact, it might be a little better thanks to new regulations allowing hunting 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sundown, crucial times when animals are most likely to be moving.

The top counties for deer harvest will almost certainly be the same as last year with Licking, Coshocton, Muskingum, Tuscarawas and Harrison leading the way. All five counties have excellent habitat for deer and equally excellent numbers of animals.

Every county in Ohio contains whitetails, but hunters looking for the best opportunities will find them in the following regions:

• In District One, which covers central Ohio, the most productive counties will probably be Licking, Knox and Fairfield.

• In District Two, northwestern Ohio, look for top counties to be Richland, Williams and Hancock.

• In District Three, northeastern Ohio, top choices will be Ashtabula, Tuscarawas and Harrison.

• In District Four, hunters in the prime southeastern counties should try Coshocton, Muskingum and Guernsey.

• In District Five, southwestern Ohio, hunters should concentrate on Adams, Highland and Clermont counties.

The first day is always best during the gun season with whitetails calm and unwary. They are following their usual routine of feeding during the night and laying up in brushy areas, forest thickets and weed fields during the day.

Most of the deer killed each gun season fall on that day, and most of the rest on the second day. After that, hunting gets difficult with animals holding tight in heavy cover and moving only when forced to do so.

So, on the first days there will be two ways to go for Buckeye hunters.

One is to drive, a method used by many, even most gunners. It consists of lining up a number of hunters in a row and driving through likely cover toward standers waiting at the end of a woodlot, field or brush.

The method pays off, but works even better if the drivers walk with the wind at their back or at least quartering, and do so quietly with no loud noise.

Any deer in front of the drivers will know they’re coming thanks to a tremendous sense of smell. If hunters aren’t noisy enough to really frighten the deer, they’ll ghost past standers at a walk or slow bounce instead of a dead run — which makes for easy targets.

The second choice is for individuals or small, well-separated groups to sit and wait along a well-traveled deer trail for whitetails stirred up by drivers or others. Some will use tree stands, but many will simply sit against a tree or in a quickly made ground blind and wait for customers.

That method works well, too, especially if the hunter makes certain any breeze is blowing his or her scent away from the trail.

Most of those seeking venison during the gun season are just looking for a deer, any deer buck or doe. But a few are always hoping for a really big buck, a true wall hanger. These are hard to come by, and one trophy in a lifetime is better than average.

But hunters hoping for a big one should remember a simple rule of thumb. While 1- to 2-year-old animals are unwary and usually move without thought, old deer didn’t get that way without finding a good place to hide when shots begin on opening morning.

They’ll flee straight to that spot again, which might be a big thicket of sharp-thorned multiflora rose, really heavy brush, a swamp with dry ground in its center or standing corn if any hasn’t been harvested yet.

Hunters who can scout a little before the opener and find serious trails leading into such places have a better chance than most of bagging a dandy buck.

According to the Buckeye Big Buck Club, which registers trophy deer taken in Ohio, the best counties for super sized animals are mostly those with the highest harvest each year. Licking County, for example, has seen 206 big bucks registered in the club, Muskingum — 151, Tuscarawas —138, Coshocton — 131 and Ross County — 126.

Any county in the state will have a trophy buck or more, but these are best.

If many Ohio hunters have a problem, it’s finding a place to hunt. When they can’t manage that, most turn to hunting public lands where permission isn’t necessary. They’ll find deer in such places, but by noon or so on opening day the hordes of hunters in each public area will drive survivors out to surrounding private lands and success will nosedive.

But there are a few public lands where hunting can be good. The Division of Wildlife lists public lands in three counties as being fairly prime spots, Hocking, Vinton and Lawrence counties.

All are in low population areas and thus receive less pressure than those near major population centers. They might be worth a look this year.

Dick Martin is a retired Shelby biology teacher who has written an outdoor column for more than 20 years. He can be reached at richmart@neo.rr.com.